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Special Centre for the Study of North East India

Special Centre for the Study of North East India

List of courses being offered in Winter Semester 2025

Research Cluster of SCSNEI

Special Centre for the Study of North East India (SCSNEI) was established in the year 2018. Earlier it was a University-level Programme under the name, North East India Studies Programme, established in 2006. The Centre aims at a holistic understanding of the region by bringing together different epistemic perspectives with a strong commitment to an inter-disciplinary research. The focus of the Centre covers humanities, social and environmental sciences, and other allied disciplines, that are linked to studies on North East India and its neighbouring areas.

The main thrust of the Center is to undertake critical research on the diverse and complex issues of the region and build up a body of scholarly works on the region including its wider historical and contemporary global contexts and connections. At present, SCSNEI focuses on areas of study, such as social change, religion and statecraft, economic development and livelihood practices, conflict, peace and human security studies, frontier and borderland studies, history of infrastructure, visual history, history of goods and circulation, cultural studies, literature, cultural history, resistance studies, traditional knowledge system, political ecology and environmental studies, transnational and migration studies, borderland and regional economy, print culture, ancient Indian culture and archaeology, aesthetics and performance studies, biodiversity, traditional medicinal practices, performing arts and folklores, and oral traditions.

SCSNEI promotes active interaction between JNU and various Universities and institutions at the regional, national and global levels. This is being done through the exchange of scholars, workshops, seminars, symposia, research, etc., on themes pertinent to the region. SCSNEI also engages in comparative research which covers themes connecting local and global issues and their wider implications. It aims to develop into a Centre of Excellence which would serve as a resource hub for scholars from diverse parts of the country and abroad and be a platform that brings academics, administrators, policy makers, civil society actors and activists interested in the region and its neighbouring areas to dialogue on its various challenges and prospects, develop new methods and approaches for holistic growth and development of the region, and locate the region in national discourse and policy intervention.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.